Ghiz thrilled with Regis and Kelly impact

Officials with the P.E.I. government are more convinced than ever that bringing the show Live! with Regis and Kelly to the province will provide a huge tourism boost.

The broadcasts began Monday at Confederation Landing park in Charlottetown and will continue through Thursday. The province and the federal government spent a total of $1 million to attract the show.

Premier Robert Ghiz said that investment has already paid off.

"We estimated that we've got about $5 million worth of advertising so far, and that was even before we started broadcasting from here in Confederation Landing," said Ghiz.

Tourism PEI officials said a 30-second spot on Live! with Regis and Kelly would cost about $60,000. This week's broadcasts run for four hours, and other media have also been covering the event.

Independent media monitoring is being done to calculate the return on the investment, with the number of minutes P.E.I. is mentioned being measured.

"We think that this is going to be an incredible opportunity," said Ghiz.

"This is a good opportunity for us to really tell the rest of the world — that doesn't know about us — that here's Prince Edward Island and here's what we have to offer. And we think that Regis and Kelly are doing a great job with it."

An unexpected benefit of the show is the number of people who traveled to the Island simply to see the live broadcast. Three thousand tickets were available for each show, and two thirds of the people who received tickets were from off-Island.

Ghiz noted Google trends showed "Prince Edward Island" rose to near the top of the most commonly used search terms in the United States on Monday.